Virtue and his Regina squad captured the SaskTel Tankard with a 6-4 victory over Saskatoon’s Bruce Korte in Sunday’s final in Melfort. Virtue’s provincial title was overshadowed by Saturday’s ejection of second Chris Schille during a 5-3 B-event final win over Kerrobert’s Josh Heidt. Schille was tossed for using bad language by a volunteer on-ice official in the second end, leaving Virtue, third Braeden Moskowy and lead DJ Kidby to complete the match.

Schille returned to the lineup as Virtue qualified for the Tim Hortons Brier. Warren Hansen, the Canadian Curling Association’s director of event operations and media, said Monday that Virtue’s team won’t be treated differently than any of the other squads at the Canadian men’s curling championship in Edmonton from March 2-10.

“We’re aware, but everyone is treated in the same manner,” Hansen said. “They all get a green light until they do something that would suggest otherwise.”

Schille, 29, said Monday he didn’t expect any further discipline at the Brier or any additional attention from officials due to his ejection.

“It was a mistake that I made and our team made as a whole because we all knew what we were up against,” Schille said after returning to Regina. “We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. I’m glad to hear that there is a clean slate going forward.”

The Brier is different than a provincial championship when it comes to discipline for on-ice behaviour. Players may be fined if their language or behaviour crosses the line.

“We’ll tolerate things to a certain degree, then they will be fined and there have been fines,” Hansen said. “TSN is often the one that will bring (bad language) to our attention. When that happens, we talk to (the competitors) and tell them to clean up their act. We react and we have reacted to it.”

Fines are deducted from the funds competitors receive for playing in the Brier through the players’ assistance program and donated to the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

“There are usually fines every year, but we don’t make an issue of it,” Hansen said.

Schille, a native of Red Deer, knows what takes place at the Brier after having appeared in Canadian men’s championships in 2007 and 2008 with Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador. Virtue, a native of Calgary, hooked up with Moskowy and Kidby, both Regina products, for the first time this season.

“There is probably a lot more leeway (at the Brier), but we’re not looking to stretch the rules,” Schille said. “We get angry and we’re going to get emotional just like in every other sport. It’s not chess or checkers, we’re out there playing a game and trying to win a provincial title.”

Schille helped the team capture the provincial championship without any other incidents.

“We toned it down a little bit and a lot of it had to do with the fact that we played a lot better,” Schille said. “We may have got more out of hand as we played worse ... We really held it together once we got into the playoffs.”

That may not have been the case earlier in the Tankard. Deanna Rindal, the Tankard’s alternate head official, told Kevin Mitchell of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix that she had talked to Virtue’s team earlier in the week about using bad language on the ice. Amber Holland, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Curling Association, also talked to all competitors prior to the Tankard about their on-ice conduct.

Schille added fuel to the issue by posting tweets that were critical of Rindal and the SCA. Holland said the SCA will review a number of concerns that have surfaced during the men’s playdowns. That includes player conduct and a social-media policy when it comes to athletes expressing their thoughts about the association and volunteers. Holland also supported the official’s reaction to what took place with Schille.

“I have to trust what the officials do on the ice is with all of the knowledge and experience they have from when they are out there,” Holland said. “They are the ones out there handling the on-ice play. We trust them to do that. The last thing any of our officials want to do is to remove a player.”

Schille sounded repentant about the incident that rocked the curling community.

“I don’t blame them for anything they did,” Schille said. “I’m not going to pretend that what I did was OK because it wasn’t OK. I didn’t think (being ejected) was justified, but life goes on.”

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